The existence of a planet the size of Earth around the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, has been confirmed by an international team of scientists including researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE). The results, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, reveal that the planet in question, Proxima b, has a mass of 1.17 Earth masses and is located in the habitable zone of its star, which it orbits in 11.2 days.

An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide.

A team of University of Rhode Island scientists and statisticians conducted a sophisticated quantitative analysis of a mass extinction that occurred 215 million years ago and found that the cause of the extinction was not an asteroid or climate change, as had previously been believed. Instead, the scientists concluded that the extinction did not occur suddenly or simultaneously, suggesting that the disappearance of a wide variety of species was not linked to any single catastrophic event.

The formation of the Sun, the Solar System and the subsequent emergence of life on Earth may be a consequence of a collision between our galaxy, the Milky Way, and a smaller galaxy called Sagittarius, discovered in the 1990s to be orbiting our galactic home.

A new era in space begins Wednesday with the launch by SpaceX of two NASA astronauts into space, a capability that for six decades symbolized the power of a handful of states, and which the United States itself had been deprived of for nine years.

An Irish mathematician, Dr. Martin Kerin, from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics at NUI Galway, has had a research article published in the Annals of Mathematics, widely regarded as the top journal for pure mathematics in the world. The article, written in collaboration with Professor Sebastian Goette of the University of Freiburg and Professor Krishnan Shankar of the University of Oklahoma, resolves a question first asked around 60 years ago on the geometrical properties of seven-dimensional objects which very closely resemble spheres.

Space is getting crowded. Aging satellites and space debris crowd low-Earth orbit, and launching new satellites adds to the collision risk. The most effective way to solve the space junk problem, according to a new study, is not to capture debris or deorbit old satellites: it's an international agreement to charge operators "orbital-use fees" for every satellite put into orbit.

The first round of results from an immunological study of 149 people who have recovered from COVID-19 show that although the amount of antibodies they generated varies widely, most individuals had generated at least some that were intrinsically capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

A few minutes into the life of the universe, colliding emissions of light energy created the first particles of matter and antimatter. We are familiar with the reverse process—matter generating energy—in everything from a campfire to an atomic bomb, but it has been difficult to recreate that critical transformation of light into matter.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have shown that an extinction event 360 million years ago, that killed much of the Earth's plant and freshwater aquatic life, was caused by a brief breakdown of the ozone layer that shields the Earth from damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This is a newly discovered extinction mechanism with profound implications for our warming world today.

A research team led by the University of Adelaide has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state, which has been linked to human health benefits.

A group of scientists from NUST MISIS developed a ceramic material with the highest melting point among currently known compounds. Due to the unique combination of physical, mechanical and thermal properties, the material is promising for use in the most heat-loaded components of aircraft, such as nose fairings, jet engines and sharp front edges of wings operating at temperatures above 2000 degrees C. The results are published in Ceramics International.

This email is a free service of Science X Network You received this email because you subscribed to our list. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please unsubscribe here. You are subscribed as phys.org@quicklydone.com. You may manage your subscription options from your Science X profile

A few minutes into the life of the universe, colliding emissions of light energy created the first particles of matter and antimatter. We are familiar with the reverse process—matter generating energy—in everything from a campfire to an atomic bomb, but it has been difficult to recreate that critical transformation of light into matter.

When investigating how tumors grow, or how pharmaceuticals affect different types of cells, researchers have to understand how molecules within a cell react—and interact. This is possible with modern laser microscopy. Until now, however, molecules in cell specimens had to be labelled with fluorescent substances in order to make them visible, and this can distort the very behavior of the molecules. Research groups from Bielefeld University and the University of Hong Kong have developed a laser microscope that works without having to label the molecules. For this, the researchers innovated a unique compact fibre laser instead of the solid-state lasers that had previously been used. The new microscope generates far less noise when in use than customary designs, making it suitable for use in operating rooms. The researchers presented their innovative technology in the journal Light: Science and Applications, which is published by Springer Nature.

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) play a major role in galaxy evolution. Astronomers from SRON and RuG have now used a record-setting sample of galaxies to confirm that galaxy mergers have a positive effect on igniting AGNs. They were able to compile about 10 times more pictures of merging galaxies than previous studies by using a machine-learning algorithm.

ESA's Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the unique encounter.

The planetary system around star HR8799 is remarkably similar to our solar system. It has four gas giants in between two asteroid belts. A research team led by RuG and SRON used this similarity to model the delivery of materials by asteroids, comets and other minor bodies within the system. Their simulation shows that the four gas planets receive material delivered by minor bodies, just as in our solar system.

The last of six tiny satellites that were rocketed into space 14 years ago—and then went on to prove that the wealth of accurate atmospheric data that can be gleaned from existing GPS signals can improve operational weather forecasts—was officially decommissioned on May 1, outliving its original planned lifespan by a dozen years.

Far away in the Ursa Major constellation is a swirling galaxy that would not look out of place on a coffee made by a starry-eyed barista. NGC 3895 is a barred spiral galaxy that was first spotted by William Herschel in 1790 and was later observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The fast and efficient generation of random numbers has long been an important challenge. For centuries, games of chance have relied on the roll of a die, the flip of a coin, or the shuffling of cards to bring some randomness into the proceedings. In the second half of the 20th century, computers started taking over that role, for applications in cryptography, statistics, and artificial intelligence, as well as for various simulations—climatic, epidemiological, financial, and so forth.

Electronic applications on unconventional substrates that require low-temperature processing methods have primarily driven the development of organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) in the past few decades. Such applications primarily require high-frequency switching (rate at which an electronic switch performs its function) or amplification at low operating voltages. However, most organic-TFT technologies show limited dynamic performance unless researchers apply high operating voltages to overcome their high contact resistances and large parasitic capacitances, i.e. a capacitance that exists between parts of electronic components or a circuit due to their proximity to each other. In this work, James W. Borchert and a team of interdisciplinary researchers in nanoscience, chemistry, quantum science and solid state research in Germany and Italy, presented low-voltage organic TFTs. The devices recorded static and dynamic performances including contact resistances as small as 10 Ω·cm, on/off current ratios as large as 1010 and transit frequencies as high as 21 MHz. The inverted coplanar TFT structure developed in this work can be readily adapted to industry-standard lithographic techniques.

In October 2016, a cyberattack temporarily took down Amazon, Reddit, Spotify and Slack for users along the U.S.'s East Coast. Mirai, a botnet of hacked security cameras and internet routers, aimed a flood of junk traffic at the servers of Dyn, a company that provides the global directory (or phonebook) for the web known as the Domain Name System or DNS.

When hungry consumers want to know how many calories are in a bag of chips, they can check the nutrition label on the bag. When those same consumers want to check the security and privacy practices of a new IoT device, they aren't able to find even the most basic facts.

Volkswagen is spending 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to expand its presence in China's electric car industry in the biggest foreign investment announced since the country's economy began to reopen following the coronavirus pandemic.

The power grid is evolving to include ever-higher levels of wind and solar generation—which do not provide inertia, historically a key source of grid reliability. Should system planners and operators panic? A new video and guidebook from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) explain why not.

Colin Garvey, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), took an unusual path to his studies in the social science of technology. After graduating from college, he taught English in Japan for four years, during which time he also became a Zen Buddhist monk. In 2014, he returned to the U.S., where he entered a Ph.D. program in science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. That same year, Stephen Hawking co-authored an editorial in The Guardian warning that artificial intelligence could have catastrophic consequences if we don't learn how to avoid the risks it poses. In his graduate work, Garvey set out to understand what those risks are and ways to think about them productively.

Encountering a bot account while scrolling through Twitter is more likely to occur in the era of COVID-19. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have discovered that much of the discussion around the pandemic and stay-at-home orders is being fueled by misinformation campaigns that use convincing bots.

The coronavirus pandemic has sped up changes that were already happening across society, from remote learning and work to e-health, supply chains and logistics, policing, welfare and beyond. Big tech companies have not hesitated to make the most of the crisis.

This week News Corp Australia announced the end of the print editions of 112 suburban and regional mastheads – about one-fifth of all of Australia's local newspapers. Of those, 36 will close and 76 become purely online publications.

The COVID-19 lockdown has led to reduced pollution and emissions in the UK and around the world, providing a clear indication of how cars affect air quality and carbon emissions. But such a change is only temporary—millions of petrol cars are waiting for restrictions to ease. Then, higher levels of emissions will resume.

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday designed—in theory—to make it easier to sue social media companies such as Twitter, days after the site placed a fact check label on two of his tweets.

Australia's latest greenhouse gas figures released today show national emissions fell slightly last year. This was by no means an economy-wide effort—solar and wind energy did most of the heavy lifting.

Audiovisual media content is not only an essential tool for communication and entertainment, it is also seen as a useful source of modern history. To enable everyone to benefit from such informative documents, it's crucial to translate moving images and sounds into words in an efficient and cost-effective way. Enter the EU-funded MeMAD project that is developing automatic language-based methods for managing, accessing and publishing pre-existing and originally produced digital content within the creative industries. Focusing on TV broadcasting and on-demand media services, the MeMAD project also aims to enhance digital storytelling.

This email is a free service of Science X Network You received this email because you subscribed to our list. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please unsubscribe here. You are subscribed as phys.org@quicklydone.com. You may manage your subscription options from your Science X profile